Rockland Man Gets 15 Years For Trafficking Girl Into Prostitution

SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — A federal judge in New Jersey sentenced a Spring Valley man to 15 years in prison Wednesday for trafficking a girl into prostitution.

Wilbur “Wilby” Senat, 26, threatened to kill the girl’s family if she didn’t cooperate, then took her to New Jersey and Philadelphia — with the help of three other men — to turn tricks, U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp found after an eight-day bench trial in Trenton.

Senat met the girl in Haverstraw in the summer of 2011 and took her to a Nyack motel sometime later, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said. After plying her with marijuana and alcohol, he forced her into having sex with other men for money, the U.S. attorney said.

The next day, he said, Senat bought a pair of tickets n the names of “Mr. Senat” and “Ms. Senat,” and boarded a bus with her. Senat “threatened the victim that if she did not agree to leave New York with him, her family would be harmed,” Fishman said.

He and an accomplice then physically abused her and forced her into prostitution, he said. Another accomplice took the girl to various clubs in Philadelphia, “where he instructed her to solicit club patrons for sex acts in exchange for money,” Fishma said.

A third accomplice was part of a failed blackmail scheme in New Jersey using the girl as bait. In addition to the prison term, Senat was sentenced to lifetime supervised release, with his contact with minors restricted.